Starling (152 page)

To my friends and family who are under the mistaken impression
that I am all kinds of famous and blow them off to work a zillion
hours a week because I have some sort of addiction to being busy. I
swear it isn’t true! Someday I will find more time to eat bratwurst and
watch terrible B-grade horror movies with you guys, I promise.

To Jill Santopolo and everyone else at Philomel (whom I will not
attempt to name again, as I am sure I will forget someone). Thanks
for teaching me so much about books and publishing. You guys rule.
To Stephen Barbara and everyone at Foundry. You guys also rule.

To Lexa Hillyer, Lauren Oliver, and everyone at Paper Lantern
for helping me find my wings. Extra-special thanks to Beth Scorzato.
You made this book better. You made me better—for reals. Can I be
on your team when you take over the world?

To the über-supportive kidlit writing community, including the
Apocalypsies, the Blueboarders, the YA Valentines, the Literaticult,
my crit partners, and all of the authors and bloggers who have sent
me happy tweets or answered my Very Important Questions on
Twitter. They Who Must Be Named: Jennifer Laughran, Marcy
Beller Paul, Cathy Castelli, Jessica Fonseca Honiotes, Julie Heidbreder, Antony John, Jasmine Nazek, Ken Howe, Heather Anastasiu,
Jessica Spotswood, Elizabeth Richards, Tara Kelly, Christina Ahn,
Jamie Krakover, and Eleanor Herman. I have just one word for all of
you: Respect. (I would also put some hearts and smiley faces here,
but the copy editors don’t like that).

To Adam. I have no idea where either of us will be when this book
hits the shelves, but wherever we are, I hope we’re happy. We’ve both
got a lot of ducks. Maybe someday they’ll all walk in the same direction.